Dudley, Thomas

Gov. Thomas Dudley (1576-1653, age 77). A Puritan leader and colonial governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was one of the most influential figures in early Massachusetts, serving as governor four times and deputy governor 13 times.

Dudley was born in England and joined other Puritan leaders in the Cambridge Agreement to settle in New England. He arrived in America in 1630 on the Arbella with John Winthrop. He was the first member of the Dudley Family to arrive on the Americas.

Soon after, Dudley helped found the town of Cambridge, Massachusetts Bay Colony and was one of the key promoters of establishing Harvard University, signing its Charter as governor in 1650.

Dudley was known for his strict Puritan views and clashed at times with other colonial leaders like John Winthrop. He was described as “more precise and rigid than the moderate Winthrop in his approach to the issues.”

Dudley was an “earnest and persistent heresy hunter” and Cotton Mather wrote that if he had been alive during the Salem witch trials, “New England would never have been disgraced by the bloodshed of innocent persons.” Dudley’s daughter Anne Bradstreet was a prominent early American poet.

The Dudley family had a lasting legacy, with descendants including Connecticut Governor Lowell P. Weicker, playwright Tennessee Williams, actor Christopher Reeve, comedian Kelsey Grammer, astronaut Rear Admiral Alan Shepard, and Yale‘s A. Bartlett Giamatti. Some sources indicate the Dudley family was involved in the slave trade.